Dr. Leonard L. Edloe, the former owner of a small chain of pharmacies in Richmond, has been installed as the first Black president-elect of the 140-year-old Virginia Pharmacists Association, the same group that once barred his late pharmacist father from joining the organization because of the color of his skin.

He and other officers were installed during the VPA’s virtual annual two-day convention that closed Saturday, Aug. 14.

Dr. Edloe’s election to the post puts the 74-year-old pharmacist on track to serve as VPA president in 2022, another milestone achievement for Dr. Edloe.

During his 50-year career, he has received virtually every state and national pharmacy award and has been showered with numerous accolades. Dr. Edloe previously has been a national officer of the American Pharmacy Association and served on its board and as president of its foundation.

Dr. Edloe also is pastor of New Hope Fellowship Church in Middlesex County. He said he has sought to follow the advice of his father, Dr. Leonard Lacy Edloe: “You have to be better; you have to prove you are better.”

In 2012, Dr. Edloe closed the pharmacy business his father began 67 years earlier, but remains active in the profession. For several years, he worked on weekends to fill in for a fellow independent pharmacist and currently is a consultant for Westwood Pharmacy, a major distributor of COVID-19 vaccines for the Henrico Health District and medications to prisons and other public institutions around the state.

Dr. Edloe said he was involved in ensuring safe delivery and appropriate use of the coronavirus vaccines during the mass inoculation program at Richmond Raceway. He said he regularly visits various jails and prisons in Virginia that are Westwood Pharmacy customers to review medication services on Westwood’s behalf.

He also teaches pharmacy students as an associate clinical professor in Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Pharmacy.

He began his pharmacy career after earning his pharmacy degree from Howard University. In 2003, he earned a doctorate in pharmacy from the University of Florida.